From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.
What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
My Chemistry CT played a review game for significant figures in class today. During the game, most of the students were paying attention and involved. A few of the students in the back of the class were talking to one another, and one student was even drawing a sketch of the student sitting behind him. This review game involved giving the correct number of significant figures, receiving points for that, and shooting a handball into the recycling bin, which added more points if the ball went in. This was engaging for the students and so that was why, for the most part, the students were involved. During this time, my CT did not move around the room; she just sat on her desk at the front of the room. After the review game, she lectured for some time about calculations and significant figures. During this time, I observed one student using her cell phone and a few students talking with others nearby. My CT engaged the students by asking questions and making the process of using sig. figs. in calculations a conversation between her and her students.
Teacher: "What's the operation?"
Students: "Multiplication"
Teacher: "What's the question?"
Students: "How many sig figs?"
The general science teacher I observed was encouraging her students to engage by grabbing their attention. She was demonstrating different physical and chemical changes with actual examples (i.e. lighting a match, magnesium oxide + hydrogen peroxide). Although this was intriguing for most students, one student had her head down while this discussion and note taking occurred. The co-operating teacher had to go over to this student and tap her shoulder to wake her up. Because the class was co-taught, there was much movement around the classroom during the demonstrations. One teacher brought the test tubes of the different examples around so students could get a closer look, while the other teacher checking on certain students who were not paying attention or looking lost. The last part of the lesson was where the students got to do one of the examples. They mixed substances in a plastic bag and had to decide whether or not there was a chemical change and explain why or why not.
What I liked about the Chemistry class was that the teacher made reviewing a skill fun for the students. I would change the duration of the review because it seemed to me that the students really understood sig figs. and time was being wasted continuing the review. Then again, the students seemed to enjoy the time spent playing the game. Although I saw the student using her cell phone, I don't think my teacher did because of where she was standing. I will remember this, and always try to be moving around the room so as to avoid distractions from cell phones and chatter. Students are less likely to have their phones out or talk to friends if the teacher is constantly patrolling the room. The general science lesson was really interesting to observe because the demonstrations seemed to bring about many questions from the students. They seemed to really be analyzing the concepts and creating hypothetical examples of their own. Letting the students actively participate was helpful and it was a good reminder to make sure that the students move around at some point during each lesson so we don't lose them. Student engagement like this is important to me as a teacher because I know I learn best once I actually apply what I'm being taught. In order to get students to engage, I need to provide thought-provoking questions and prompt them to be curious about a topic. This links with the idea of inquiry-based learning and stresses that students should be the ones actively talking and thinking about concepts.
What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
My Chemistry CT played a review game for significant figures in class today. During the game, most of the students were paying attention and involved. A few of the students in the back of the class were talking to one another, and one student was even drawing a sketch of the student sitting behind him. This review game involved giving the correct number of significant figures, receiving points for that, and shooting a handball into the recycling bin, which added more points if the ball went in. This was engaging for the students and so that was why, for the most part, the students were involved. During this time, my CT did not move around the room; she just sat on her desk at the front of the room. After the review game, she lectured for some time about calculations and significant figures. During this time, I observed one student using her cell phone and a few students talking with others nearby. My CT engaged the students by asking questions and making the process of using sig. figs. in calculations a conversation between her and her students.
Teacher: "What's the operation?"
Students: "Multiplication"
Teacher: "What's the question?"
Students: "How many sig figs?"
The general science teacher I observed was encouraging her students to engage by grabbing their attention. She was demonstrating different physical and chemical changes with actual examples (i.e. lighting a match, magnesium oxide + hydrogen peroxide). Although this was intriguing for most students, one student had her head down while this discussion and note taking occurred. The co-operating teacher had to go over to this student and tap her shoulder to wake her up. Because the class was co-taught, there was much movement around the classroom during the demonstrations. One teacher brought the test tubes of the different examples around so students could get a closer look, while the other teacher checking on certain students who were not paying attention or looking lost. The last part of the lesson was where the students got to do one of the examples. They mixed substances in a plastic bag and had to decide whether or not there was a chemical change and explain why or why not.
What I liked about the Chemistry class was that the teacher made reviewing a skill fun for the students. I would change the duration of the review because it seemed to me that the students really understood sig figs. and time was being wasted continuing the review. Then again, the students seemed to enjoy the time spent playing the game. Although I saw the student using her cell phone, I don't think my teacher did because of where she was standing. I will remember this, and always try to be moving around the room so as to avoid distractions from cell phones and chatter. Students are less likely to have their phones out or talk to friends if the teacher is constantly patrolling the room. The general science lesson was really interesting to observe because the demonstrations seemed to bring about many questions from the students. They seemed to really be analyzing the concepts and creating hypothetical examples of their own. Letting the students actively participate was helpful and it was a good reminder to make sure that the students move around at some point during each lesson so we don't lose them. Student engagement like this is important to me as a teacher because I know I learn best once I actually apply what I'm being taught. In order to get students to engage, I need to provide thought-provoking questions and prompt them to be curious about a topic. This links with the idea of inquiry-based learning and stresses that students should be the ones actively talking and thinking about concepts.